MITCHELL, S.D. – Minot State's Cole Faircloth and Gavin Turk led the way on Saturday as each picked up four wins and earned 5^th-place finishes at the Dakota Wesleyan Open.

Teammate Shafer Ehmke added a 6^th-place finish for the Beavers as he earned three victories on the mats in the open tournament, Minot State's second of the season.

"I thought it was a tough tournament," Minot State head coach Evan Forde said. "Our guys fought hard, but we lost a lot of close matches. We need to find a way to start winning those.

"We gained some valuable experience today, and we improved in a couple positions that we struggled with last week," he added.

Coming off a tournament title at the Jimmie Open last weekend, Turk continued a strong start to the season as he was 4-2 in the 174-pound weight class, scoring an opening 11-9 win by decision over Augustana's Josh Wagener, then a 20-5 tech fall win over Nicholas Moore from Iowa Lakes Community College, and an 8-0 major decision in over Hunter Weimer from Concordia (Neb.).

After back-to-back setbacks, the first two losses this season for Turk, he earned a no-contest victory in the 5^th-place match.

As for Faircloth, who was 4^th at the Jimmie Open last week, he continued a fantastic start to his freshman season with a 19-6 major decision win over Fort Hays State's Jett Schwartz.

After a loss in the next round, Faircloth rallied with a pin of Devin Carter from Southwest Minnesota State in 2 minutes, 50 seconds, then a pin of Elijah Nose from Jamestown in 4:18.

After one more setback, Faircloth claimed 5^th place in the 133-pound weight class with a forfeit win.

As for Ehmke, who was 5^th at the Jimmie Open last weekend, he scored a 20-3 tech fall win over Mary's Ty Wiedrich, a 13-1 major decision victory over Minnesota State Moorhead's Kishmar Eberline, and a 12-10 win by decision over Augustana's Sam McEnelly on the day as he finished 6^th at 197 pounds.

The Minot State men's wrestling team now gets the coming weekend off as the Beavers prepare to host the 4^th annual Beaver Bash duals on Friday, Nov. 21, at the MSU Dome, competing against Bismarck State and Northland Community & Tech College.